Silverstone

I hadn't done a weekly challenge on UKS for a while but I took a look at this one and knew straight away what I could scrap.  I'd printed the photos off a couple of years ago (yep, I have a pile of pics that goes back that far...or further!) and together with some Gossamer Blue kits I'm trying to use up it was game on!

The challenge was...

Scrap about a summer or sporting event - The British Grand Prix ticks both those boxes :)
Use patriotic colours - plenty of red white and blue in my photos and papers
Use 5 photos or more - I used 5 with the help of a Shimelle 4x6 Photo Love sketch

So here is my double layout...

And the two separate pages...

In the interests of using up old stash on every layout I also sprayed some Basic Grey chipboard alphas.  Do you remember them?  The ones we used to buy before Thickers came along?!

Feeling my mojo return now after a scrapping hiatus so off to see what this week's challenge is...What has got you scrapping again?

& the award goes too...

Hello, hello!  Welcome to the bank holiday weekend (or as I like to call it a whole week off work for half term! yay!)

I did this layout for a UKS weekly challenge a few weeks back and realised I had not blogged it. The challenge was...

10 points to use the sketch 

10 points to scrap something you love (doesn't need to be a person) - love of my daughter's achievements and her great taste in friends!
5 points for stitching (machine, hand or faux) - machine stitched in pink yellow and aqua around the edge of the page
5 points for inking - splatters in Mr Huey's gold

And this is what I came up with using a new kit from SJ Crafts (which I loved) plus a few bits from my own stash...

My daughter was one of the few to get two awards at the school's annual awards night which was lovely but even better was that three of her closest friends also won awards and they could all celebrate together.

Loved this kit - it's just the right size for me to scrap a few pages through the month and use it all up. (I think - except this month has been a little fraught and busy).  Definitely one I will buy again :)

The Cheshire Show

Hello to you and hope you are enjoying the long bank holiday weekend.  We have had the week off too and have had a lovely trip away to Cardiff (and The Dr Who Exhibition) and my parents.  The last two days have been glorious here in the North West so it was out into the garden for a good spring tidy up.

So that brings me to today when I felt I'd done enough to earn myself a little scrapping time!  I have made a layout which I will share soon but it reminded me that I hadn't shared this one , which will sit opposite it in my 2012 album.

This was for a UKS weekly challenge a couple of weeks ago and I used some red, white and blue papers to go with the jubilee theme that was everywhere at the Cheshire Show in 2012.  I had never visited before as it is always (bizarrely) mid-week in June.  But this year it fell on my day off and an inset day for Joshua so we had a fabulous day out!

Must dash - still some scrapping time left before our roast lamb and then we are all out to the cinema to see Spiderman!

Zip it!

Ali set a lovely challenge last week on UKS to focus on ourselves.  I had a photo on my desk waiting to be scrapped from 2012 (I'm up to June so getting there...slowly!) and it fitted the bill perfectly.

So the challenge was;

Theme - Featuring yourself or someone close to you 5 points
Using numbers, but not as a bullet point - 5 points
Using visible journalling - 10 points 
Using photographs of yourself & other events 10 points

I had such an amazing experience doing my zip wire challenge that I had to document it;

Some of the numbers I wrote about;

• 260 meter zip wire
• Travelling at up to 25 mph
• £709 raised for the BSSA
• 150 girls and leaders from Girlguiding UK too part
• 1/2 million people in UK affected by Sjogrens
• 9/10 sufferers are women

I used a Gossamer Blue kit (giving the last few Sarah's ones a rest while I use up my Gossamer ones now!) and added some random stitching.

And if you have not seen it before (please allow me to indulge myself if you have!) here is good old me on the zip wire....

Loving the Lakes

While away on my retreat this weekend I turned to the UKS Challenge for some inspiration.  The challenge was to...

As Spring is approaching we decided to ask you to use bright and cheerful colours (there have been too many grey/cloudy skies recently!)

We would also like you to use a happy fun photograph(or more than one)

Add a project life type card to the layout (this can be a card by any brand or one cut from a 12 x 12 sheet or one you have printed/made yourself) just tell us where you have used it

Finally we randomly allocated a team mate for each of us to scraplift but you can choose whoever you want from the Chatty Scrappers team, just add a link to the page you have chosen to scraplift

I chose to scraplift this page by Shyleir;

Ans this is how my layout turned out;

I used a Gossamer Blue kit and some extra bits from my own stash.  I love this photo of Josh on the shores of Wastwater last year.  He really loved the Lakes.

Thanks for stopping by and I'm looking forward to sharing some more pages from my productive (and extremely fun) weekend away last week.

Double dipping with the Sketch Scrappers and UKS

I caught up on the challenge from the Sketchy Scrappers last weekend.  It was a lovely sketch, full of layering opportunities and a chance to use up yet another kit! (Yes, I know this is getting repetitive but bear with me!)

I sprayed the mask background ages ago as an experiment and found it in my card stock pile.  I thought it gave a nice dark background to the lighter papers to balance the photo.

The photo captures the fun the kids have every year when Spring comes around and we uncover the trampoline again!  I have used up the Fancy Pants - Happy Together papers on this page and added some alphas, some wood veneer bits and some stickers.  The UKS challenge was to scrap an everyday moment and use stars.  (I missed the bit about 4x6 size paper but would have struggled with the scraps I had left).

I have 7 kits left to go, some with only one page left in them really, and then I can dive into the rest of my Gossamer Blue new ones!

Start the countdown lol!

UKS Weekly Challenge - August Week 4

I loved the challenge this week as it was simple and fitted in with some photos I'd been thinking of scrapping.  The challenge was;

Scrap about friends or a weekend away - 10 Points
Use an envelope or glassine bag for hidden journaling - 10 Points
Creative lettering - 10 Points

I chose photos of friends from our weekend away last year so ticked both boxes there. I didn't have a glassine bag or envelope so tucked my journaling in a file folder. I think I also have the same book that Scrappy Pat mentions in her challenge so I used Easy Peasy font to add some journaling around the title.

This was ones of the last Sarah's Cards kits I received with gorgeous papers from Cosmo Cricket called Tea for Two. Very apt really as the photos are of us all having tea and breakfast in The  Elephant Cafe where J K Rowling wrote most of Harry Potter.


Thanks for your comments as always I love reading them :) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

UKS Weely Challenge - August Week 3

This weeks challenge was really simple and ideal for me;
Use the sketch - yes. Got to love a sketch, it's what I nearly always start with.
Use scraps - yes again, I have lots of half used kits so I carried on with bits left from my Fancy Pants; Be You kit
Scrap about a holiday - why yes again! Having just returned from Crete I have a ton of pics to choose from!

My writing turned out a little wonky but it's just about OK! I've also been watching lots of videos on You Tube from "mercytiara" and decided to try her style of outlining papers instead of inking them. It's not as easy as she makes it look but I do like it. If you want to check her out then visit her blog at http://mercytiara.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1
Off to see if I can squeeze in another page before my bank holiday weekend comes to a close!
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UKS Weekly challenge - Flip Flop Fail!

The challenge on UKS a few weeks back was an interesting one that involved clothing or footwear which got me thinking about a story I wanted to tell from our holiday in Greece last year so I based my page on the criteria of A photo of clothes or accessories including shoes and I put this page together about how Josh got flip flops to wear around on holiday for the first time and could not get the hang of them!  On many occasion he either fell over his own feet or left one on the path behind him!

I used Fancy Pants - Be You papers from a Sarah's Cards kit and added some enamel dots, some wood veneer shapes and sprinkles of mist.  I really love how this page has turned out - my favourite for quite a while :)

UKS Weekly challenge - May week 2

The challenge was a sketch this week, which I always love, plus use 5 different patterned papers and 5 lines of jornalling.

I decided to scrap one of my origrami pics of Josh (soaking wet!) having been stood waiting for the Olympic Torch in a local park for several hours! I'm pleased with how this page has turned out as the photos go together but are very different; one an Instagram shot on my phone the one of the torch taken on my DSLR on sport mode so I was guaranteed of at least one good shot!!




A few posts back I think I blogged I had 13 Sarah's Cards kits left. Well after this layout I'm now down to 11 :).

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UKS Weekly challenge - May week 1u

Having snuck some butterflies on a layout about Josh for last week's challenge I was a bit reluctant to add flowers so decided it was time to scrap a photo of Tony instead!

The challenge this week was to...

Use the sketch for a masculine LO= 10 points
Add flowers= 10 points
Use an inking technique =10 points

I loved the sketch and rotated it for my portrait photo.  It was perfect for using up the scraps I had left in one of my kits.  I misted in three places and then used up the rest of the Glitz - Love Nest kit from Sarah's adding some buttons and some letters from my stash.  The photo was taken in the lakes a couple of years ago - we had gone up to do some family history research and found this statue of Laurel and Hardy outside the Tourist Information office.  Ulverston is Stan Laurel's place of birth.

Thank you to Tink for a fab challenge :)

UKS Weekly Challenge - April week 5

I had so many ideas for this challenge but in the end I went for a page about Josh and how he's taken his time to settle in to high school but how proud we are at how he has responded to being on a target card for three subjects to reach his potential.

So the challenge this week was;

UKS Weekly Challenge - April Week 4

Came in from work last night and made this page for the challenge but then had to fit in tea and taking Josh to his Ju Jitsu grading so no time to photograph and upload it.  I'm pleased to say Josh passed and is now a purple/white belt.  After that it's brown and then black!

Anyway on to the challenge which was to use the colours of your countries flag (red, white and blue, obviously) use more than one photograph (didn't manage this) and use a banner.

I wanted to scrap this photo for my Docuement 2012 pages for April and it faces a load of other red, white and blue pics so it was perfect for the challenge.

I also used a sketch from a new site (well, new to me anyway!) called Nuts about sketches.  I like how the sketches are grouped on the left by number of photos and one is launched once a week with plenty of inspirational layouts too.

So here is my page;

 Thanks to Lesley aka Cheekymole for a great challenge :)

UKS Weekly Challenge - April Week 3

After a little accident involving a hot oven , some cooking oil and my decolletage I found myself at home yesterday and while for most of it I lay on the sofa I managed to put together this page for the weekly challenge over on UKS in the afternoon.

The challenge was;

• Scrap something or someone you love (10 points)
• Use the colour palette (10 points)
• Use a shaped element on your page (10 points)

I stuck as close to the colour palette as possible using an old Sarah's Cards Kit - Paper Trunk.  I scrapped a photo from our recent trip to the Lakes as I love them; their beauty, the walking it offers and the fact that a lot of my ancestors are from the South Lakes makes me feel I have a connection there.  I've used a few shaped elements - fussy cut flowers, circles and a ticket stub to embellish.

The photo is made up of three separate shots of Wast Water which I have stitched together using Photo Merge in PSE.  A great little tool!

Back to the hospital for me this morning to have my dressings changed and then a little more recuperation scrapping time I think!

UKS Weekly Challenge - April Week 2

This week the challenge was an interesting one - either scrap a colour photo on black and white or scrap a black and white photo on colour.

We also had to scrap the every day and also include some journalling - either a single sentence or loads and loads.


I used one of my newer Sarah's Cards kit with Fancy Pants - Be You papers, which are really fun and bright and scrapped about Josh's weekly Saturday morning breakfasts with his Dad at our local coffe shop - McDees.  Occasionally I get invited to join them too!



Thank you to Sarah (Stillcrafting) on UKS for a great challenge.

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UKS Weekly Challenge - March week 4

This week's challenge over on UKS was set by the lovely Dawn aka Mrs Cheshire. She set a nice simple challenge to use...

A primary colour -10 points
3 clusters of embellishment - 10 points
Washi tape/ribbon - 10 points 

Well, first I had to get out one of my newer Gossamer Blue Kits - this was January's - to find some blue and red papers.  A little bit naughty as I am really keen to use up my older kits first.  Maybe next week! Anyhoo, I chose blue and red and this is what I came up with....

And I have once again done a facing page with a dividing page protector that holds some more photos and the journalling.  I'm really liking this in my albums as a way of including more pictures and ephemera without throwing everything on one page :)

The journalling reads; 

If London Bridge was falling down then Tower Bridge was flippin' cold! The wind was biting so only Josh and I  braved the bridge while Tony and Alex headed for the warmth of a coffee shop.  Josh decided the only wat to approach this escapade was with his hood and coat done up fully!  After about 10 minutes, we too beat our retreat!

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter.

UKS Weekly Challenge - March Week 3

This week's weekly challenge was a great one for scrapping the photos I took at the Take That concert in 2011.  The whole show was incredible and like no other concert I have ever been to (or proabably will go to again!)  I have cheated slightly as I have stretched this onto a page and a hlaf but I didn't want all three photos on the same page as two were taken after dark and the other before we went in the stadium.  Scrapping the extra 6x12 page has given me an opportunity to place my journalling here as I have lots to say about the day/evening!

So the brief was to...

Scrap a building, place or object 10pts

Use at least 3 photos, at least one of which must be at least 4x6 size (if you scrap smaller that 12x12, the photos can be in proportion, but the photos must be the main feature of the page!) 10pts

Do something creative with your title, rather than using stickers! Why not try covering or painting chipboard letters? hand cutting a title? stamping? hand writing/doodling? stitching? 10pts

My pages are below.  Sorry for the rubbish photos but the snow and grey skies outside do not make for good light for photography!  Here are the two pages together;

The right hand page;

And the left.  My title originally was painted over stickers and I was going to leave the negative however the adhesive lifted some of the patterned paper so then I outlined the gap left and placed the stickers slightly off like a shadow but this still looked wrong so I added a load of stitching over the letters which is something I've not done before and finally I was pleased with it! 

This is one of my Gossamer Blue kits from October which I am supposed to be ignoring whilst I finish off my old Sarah's Cards' ones but the plan is not working lol!  Also used my new postage stamp punch on this which I am really loving :)

UKS Weekly Challenge - Feb Week 4

This week the challenge was to use scraps of patterned papers, use yellow or circles and include food, cooking, eating or any kind of celebration.

Well scraps to me meant using up another Sarah's Cards Kit! This one was Echo Park - For the record. I used paper with dots on and some yellow and scrapped the cup cakes my daughter and her friends made for her 14th birthday treat.

So another weekly challenge and another kit used up!!

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UKS Weekly Challenge - Feb Week 3

With the remains of my Bo Bunny Flutter Butter kit still on my desk I decided to use some more of it for the weekly challenge this week.  It also worked that the photo I wanted to use would sit next to the last page I made in my album - I love a bit of co-ordination!

So the challenge this week from the Rik Rak Ravers was....

Use the sketch - 10

Scrap someone, something or somewhere you love-10
Use red OR a heart OR both if you want to-5
And of course....use rikrak-5

For my something special I chose Meadow Barn where I will be heading off in 10 days for another scrappy retreat with UKS friends.  This will be the third year I have been and I love that I can switch off from the world and the only stress factor is whether I have the right coloured thickers for my title!  No kids, no housework, no washing to interrupt the flow and whilst I do miss my family I do love my "me time!"

These were the ladies from the Twilight Addicts that I hooked up with last year;

I am desperately trying to finish "Document 2012" and so threw the last remaining scraps onto this 6x12 insert with some photos to record the rest of March.  I am so behind with this but I will catch up!  I think I would be a rubbish project lifer!!!

So that is another Sarah's Cards kit well and truly used up.  Only about 18 more to go!!!

UKS Weekly challenge - Feb week 2

This week was a lovely challenge set by Jen over on UKS and after some researching of Shakespeare quotes I went back to the first one that had originally popped into my head!

So the challenge was;

A Shakespeare quote 10 points
Use the colour green somehow 10 points
Use more than 2 pearls 10 points

And here is my page using another old Sarah's Cards kit (yes, more stash busting!) Bo Bunny - Flutter Butter.  This was Josh's first camp once he had started Scouts.  I always love him to go away and experience new things but do miss him so while he is away, hence the Shakespeare quote from Romeo & Juliet..."parting is such sweet sorrow".

I have used green, the quote and some enamel dots so claiming full points for the Dizzy Dots :)